We attended on Wednesday 11/14 - party of 7 (me & my husband and our two kids 7yr & 4yr, and my brother and SIL and their 1 yr baby).
I had read mixed reviews on transportation, but since we needed so many carseats we just rolled the dice on the bus. We were in luck - one arrived around 6:30 at the Contemporary. My group and a couple got on the bus. It went directly there - we walked up to the gates, got our wristbands, went through security and ticketing, and since we were inside a little after 7 (and saw some people being held by the theater) we went in to the Commissary to grab some food.
First food visit: No lines for hot food, so grabbed the kids some eggs and the charcuterie and avocado toast for hubby and I to share. We really liked the avocado toast and kiddos ate their eggs. Baby had cereal and fruit and we took some things to go for the baby. They had hot food plates all ready so it was just place your order and you were immediately handed the food and you were on your way.
We walked over to the theater around 7:15 and they let people in right at 7:20. We heard through the crowd (not sure if true or not) that SDD wasn't running yet, but it didn't matter since based on reports we were going to do EVERYTHING else first.
There was a pretty decent line of people waiting for SDD when we walked by - they were under umbrellas lined up outside the queue.
Also, the baby turned out to be terrified of characters, so we got to skip those lines - WHEW.
We rode AS2 over and over until about 7:40. My kiddos LOVED it. We adults thought it was better than expected too! Our enjoyment was definitely increased by how much my kiddos loved it - arms in the air, lots of giggling & yelling. We didn't have to get off the ride at all, so that helped too.
I lost count, but we had to have ridden it at least 6-8 times. I kept glancing over at the SDD queue signs and it was long, posted 25 minutes wait.
We headed over to TSMM, which was a walk-on. Rode it once through, and walked over to SDD.
Arrived at SDD around 8:00. Posted was 20. Rode at 8:16. Did a swap (BTW - if you will have a non-rider - there is a decent sized seating/viewing area right up by the queue entrance to make swapping easier! We wasted a few minutes getting my SIL and the baby up near the entrances so we could swap). Rode again at 8:34 - that was probably a 10 minute wait while we did all the organizing of the next group. We did another swap - I rode AS2 again (no wait) with my son, and my husband and brother and daughter rode SDD again and that time said it was nearly a walk on.
After that we left the land around 8:50, just as the rope drop crowd was coming in. I just need to make another comment about the MASS OF HUMANITY coming towards us. The line stretched on and on and on (the cast members kept yelling Slinky line to the right!) and people were so unhappy - lots of comments about rude people and people running and "you just ran right over me" and we were so happy to be leaving!! The SDD line was all the way back to the stairs/ramp where you turn by the time we got up there. It was nuts.
My SIL made a beeline for RNR and ended up riding it 4 times in a row so she was happy (single rider waits were extremely short)! The rest of us went to Star Tours where we did two rides (baby swap) - the first ride was definitely a walk-on and the second waited maybe one loading cycle.
After that we went back to the Commissary for second breakfast. Got there around 9:35. There were much longer lines for hot food, waited maybe 5 minutes? But it seemed a lot more disorganized. We ate - this time we had the shrimp and grits (yes, yummy!) and the chilaquilas (yummy too!). My brother had the chicken and waffles and he was happy too.
Quick bathroom break and the three kids and I were skating into our Frozen FP at 10:14. The rest of the crew was riding TOT and RNR on FP. We met up for Muppets afterward, and then did SDD one more time on a FP.
Opinions on Value of Event:
We universally agreed the event was definitely "worth it". It was our one extra for this trip, and it was the right one for us. Our kids loved the rides (although SDD did not knock off 7DMT as their favorite) and being able to enjoy them a few times in a row was really great. The food was a nice bonus - we were able to skip lunch that day since we had two breakfasts basically, and since we booked this event in place of a character buffet (H&V) the added cost wasn't too much. And while we felt that way before we left the area, seeing that rope drop crowd definitely upped that feeling by a lot.
Opinions on TSL:
The theming is really fantastic, and without the crowd you can see and enjoy all the little touches - the benches and light poles and signs and all the little things they put in there. We thought AS2 was going to be super boring but we were pleasantly surprised with it. SDD was a bit more intense than 7DMT so it ended up not being an issue that we couldn't ride it repeatedly for an hour.
Oh, I know some folks were asking - yes, Buzz was wearing a Santa hat and Woody and Jesse had their christmas garb on.
